Diff'rent Strokes

Diff'rent Strokes is an American sitcom created by Jeff Harris and Bernie Kukoff. Diff'rent Strokes is set in New York City. It ran for 8 seasons and had 189 episodes. Diff'rent Strokes launched the career of four of its stars Gary Coleman, Todd Bridges, Dana Plato, and Conrad Bain.

Diff'rent Strokes
Title screen
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Jeff Harris Bernie Kukoff
Written by	Ben Starr Budd Grossman Howard Leeds Martin Cohan
Directed by	Herbert Kenwith (season 1) Gerren Keith Mel Ferber Tony Singletary
Starring	Conrad Bain Gary Coleman Todd Bridges Dana Plato Charlotte Rae Mary Jo Catlett Danny Cooksey Dixie Carter Mary Ann Mobley Nedra Volz
Theme music composer	Alan Thicke Al Burton Gloria Loring
Opening theme	"It Takes Diff'rent Strokes" (pilot); "The Facts of Life" by Linda Lavin; "Learning the Facts of Life" by Telma Hopkins
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	8
No. of episodes	189 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Budd Grossman (season 1) Howard Leeds (seasons 2–6) Blake Hunter (seasons 5–7) Martin Cohan (season 7) Bob Brunner[1] Ken Hecht (season 8)
Producers	Howard Leeds Herbert Kenwith (season 1) Martin Cohan (seasons 1–6) Ben Starr (seasons 2–4) Bruce Taylor (season 7) Al Aidekman Richard Gurman (season 8)
Production locations	Metromedia Square Hollywood, California (1978–82) Universal City Studios Universal City, California (1982–85) ABC Television Center Hollywood, California (1985–86)
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	24 mins.
Production companies	Tandem Productions, Inc. (1978–86) Embassy Television (1985–86)
Original release
Network	NBC (1978–85) ABC (1985–86)
Release	November 3, 1978 (1978-11-03) – March 7, 1986 (1986-03-07)
Related
The Facts of Life Hello, Larry

About

The show is about a rich man Phillip Drummond (Conrad Bain) and his daughter Kimberly Drummond (Dana Plato) living in an apartment in New York City. Shortly before his maid died, she wanted him to take care of her two children, Arnold and Willis Jackson (Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges). They go through funny adventures and face realistic problems that can affect Arnold or the Drummond family.

Cast and characters

Conrad Bain is the only cast member to appear in all Diff'rent Strokes episodes. Gary Coleman did not appear in two.

Main characters

• Conrad Bain as Phillip Drummond, a friendly, rich white widower. He runs the Trans Allied, Inc. He was born December 3, 1931 in Manhattan. He has two adopted African-American sons, 12-year-old Willis and 8-year-old Arnold Jackson. He also has an older sister named Sophia. He then remarried Maggie McKinney.
• Dana Plato as Kimberly Drummond, Phillip's only biological child. She was shown as a caring, loving big sister to both Willis and Arnold. As a rich teenager, though, she had various problems.
• Gary Coleman as Arnold Jackson, the younger brother of Willis. He was born in Harlem, New York City on October 19, 1971. Arnold was known for his catch phrase, Whatchoo talkin' 'bout Willis?, which became a part of popular culture.
• Todd Bridges as Willis Jackson, the older brother of Arnold. He was born in Harlem on April 27, 1965. Willis's catch phrase is Say what?

Other characters

• Charlotte Rae - Edna Garrett
• Nedra Volz - Adelaide Brubaker
• Janet Jackson - Charlene DuPrey
• Dody Goodman - Aunt Sophia
• Shavar Ross - Dudley Ramsey
• Le Tari - Mr. Ted Ramsey
• Mary Jo Catlett - Pearl Gallagher
• Rosalind Chao - Miss Chung
• Steven Mond - Robbie Jason
• Nikki Swasey - Lisa Hayes
• Dixie Carter - Maggie McKinney Drummond #1
• Mary Ann Mobley - Maggie McKinney Drummond #2
• Danny Cooksey - Sam McKinney
• Jason Hervey - Charlie

The curse

There have been rumors of a curse about the cast members of the series such as; the falling career, robbery, and suicide of Dana Plato^[2] and the sudden death of Gary Coleman from an accidental fall. The only well-known cast members that survive is Todd Bridges.